Wild Salmon Caravan gears up for peak salmon cycle

Posted by Rebecca Kneen on August 18, 2018

We support indigenous territorial struggle, and our collective responsibility to the land we live on and steward. Part of this is protecting the Salmon, which are both sacred and a critical element of this complex ecosystem. Join us at the Wild Salmon Caravan!

SECWEPEMC TERRITORY - Communities from Vancouver to the Adams River are preparing for the fourth annual celebration of wild salmon - our keystone species, which also marks the peak of the four-year Sockeye cycle. With ancient ceremonies and songs, we will call the wild salmon home to the rivers, lakes and streams of the Fraser Basin and Salish Sea Corridor.

Following the theme of mermaids, which symbolize transformation, change and our close relationship to salmon, our art and cultural workshops are busily preparing community-engaged art for this year’s parades and programs.

Starting in Vancouver with a parade on Saturday, Sept. 22, the 2018 Wild Salmon Caravan will travel to Chilliwack, Lillooet and Merritt and will finish with a parade in Chase on Saturday, Sept. 29. We invite people of all creeds and cultures to join us in our journey as we follow the Sockeye to their traditional spawning grounds.

“We invite everyone to help raise awareness of the serious challenges facing wild salmon - from open net fish farms in the Broughton Archipelago to the impacts of deforestation, pipelines, rising water temperatures in the Fraser and Shuswap/Adams River watersheds and disasters like the Imperial Metals contamination of Quesnel Lake.

“Wild salmon need us more than ever to honour and show gratitude for their generosity and powerful life-giving roles in our land and food systems and environment,” says Morrison.

The Wild Salmon Caravan is led by the Working Group on Indigenous Food Sovereignty in partnership with more than 100 organizations (visit wildsalmoncaravan.ca for more information).